Elections: "The marriage of the Libyan people with Libya"

Queues of people at the polls which opened this morning at 8.00 (local time). The Democratic vote is the first in the history of the country after 43 years of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. AsiaNews sources describe a calm atmosphere despite the recent violence cost one life. The Muslim Brotherhood members of the NTC are pushing for a constitution based on sharia.

Tripoli (AsiaNews) -
Libya's
first democratic elections in the nation's history are underway. Polls
opened this morning at 8.00 (local time). AsiaNews
sources describe a calm atmosphere. "The
people are happy to vote - they say - for the first time can choose their
future after 43 years of Muammar Gaddafi dictatorship. Outside the polling
stations people are calling this a historic event, the marriage of the Libyans
with Libya".
Between
today and tomorrow, in total 2.8 million people will vote. They
will choose 200 representatives to write the new Constitution of the country. The candidates are around about
2500.

According
to Tiziana Gamannossi, an Italian entrepreneur living in Tripoli, these elections are a test for the
whole country and a test for the new democratic system that came into force
after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi and his loyalists. "My
hope - she says - is that politics is not taken hostage by groups of corrupt
leaders and the Libyans learn from the mistakes of Western countries where
democracy was born."

The
euphoria of the election, however, was marred by several attacks and clashes
between security forces and militia groups in favor of the partition of the
country, who in recent days have repeatedly put at risk the smooth running of
the vote. The
sources point out that Libya
is still torn by war between three groups: supporters of the former regime,
insurgents loyal to the National Transitional Council (CNT) and independents from
the cities of Cyrenaica, opposed the
unification of the country.

Yesterday,
insurgents fired on a helicopter that was transporting election material from
Bengazi to Tukara. One of
the crew died from his injuries. In
Ajdabiya a group of supporters of an independent candidate set fire to a
polling station. Another
office was instead attacked near Bengazi. In
protest at the distribution of seats among
the cities of the country, a groups of armed rebels blocked five centers
including those in oil hub Brega, Ras Lanouf and Sidra.

The
fighting adds to the aggressiveness of the campaign, where the main
protagonists were the affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood. For
weeks they have held rallies, sit-ins, working to maintain security in the
city, trying to overcome the distrust of the people of Libya, who with the
exception of Benghazi, do not trust the Islamists, fearing the imposition of
sharia in the country. Yesterday,
Darhoub Saleh, spokesman for the National Transitional Council (CNT) close to
the Muslim Brotherhood said that the new constitution will be based on Sharia. "The
Libyans - he said - are deeply linked to Islam and its laws, and I hope that
the forthcoming Assembly chooses the Koran as its source of inspiration."